Thackley Ladies eventually returned to football after many weeks of festivity and poor weather had put it on hold. Despite a good squad available to manager Steve Winterburn, what he witnessed in the first half was nowhere near the level his players had left back in 2024.
The pitch was in great condition so that couldn't be used as any kind of excuse so it was agreed it must have been down to the 7 week break of just one training session and no match play at all. Plus it was extremely cold!
In the first 20 minutes Thackley did create a few good chances in front of goal but they were thwarted and on top of that, a handful of set pieces, including many corners, usually Thackleys strength looked woeful and the players started to look dejected as things just weren't going as well as they'd hoped. Eventually the dead lock was broken when Molly Ellis broke down the wing, past the Republica defence and fired home a great right footed strike into the top corner. This definitely appeared to settle the Thackley players a little and it wasn't long before Ellis doubled her tally putting Thackley 2-0 up. The half time whistle blew and it was time to be positive and work out how to get the good standard of flowing football back to what Thackley had reached before the Christmas break. Lucy Preston and Amy Wood gave way to Beth Davies and Rosie Hodgson for the start of the second half, not as a tactical change, but more in the way of trying to get as many squad players up to speed. The second half started slow but Thackley definitely took charge of the match, dominating possession and creating more and more chances. The Republica keeper was kept very busy but it took until the 75th minute for Thackley to increase their lead after some great work from Sopie Moulden and a few goal line blocks and the ball eventually ended up at Rachael Whites boot inches from the line, which was tapped in to make it 3-0. Thackley now had full command and White and Ellis gave way to Zoe Roberts and Georgia Clipson to see out the last 12 minutes. To be fair, the longer the game went on the flowing football did start to show its face again for Thackley but it wasn't their best performance. That said, they are in the draw for the next round of the County Cup and their unbeaten record this season is still unscathed.
Next week Thackley will be at home again in the league against Leeds Hyde Park as they hope to continue their good league run.